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Posts tagged ‘national park service’

I work in Washington, DC, two block from McPherson Square. My commuter bus drops off and picks up right at the square, so twice a day, 3 days a week, I come face-to-face and nose-to-smell with Occupy DC.

I watched them move in last fall, sometimes swallowing my anger, at times voicing it out loud as I witness the destruction of all that tender, brand new grass. The National Park Service spent $440,000 of stimulus funds renovating McPherson Square last summer. Nearly half that amount went into sod. Those of us who work near the square had just begun to enjoy taking our lunches to the square, which was also seeing visitation by a variety of upscale food trucks, when –oh joy–the Occupy movement came to town.

I’m all for free speech, but if you want to exercise it, for Pete’s sake

SAY SOMETHING.

The occupants of McPherson Square have no designated leader. There is no coherent message. They have published no demands to be met in order for their “occupation to end.

Day after day, I see a collection of unwashed, unkempt, disrespectful hippies loitering around the square or nearby cafes (who, for the most part, have removed their outdoor furnishings to discourage loitering) who do nothing more constructive than paint nonsense on signs.

WHOM to you represent?

Not me. Not the other 2-3 dozen people standing the line for the bus with me every day. I asked. Not the people with whom I work, either (I asked). We are the “99%”, too. We didn’t ask a bunch of hobo hippies to come destroy our newly-restored park and run all of our cafes and eateries out of business. We didn’t ask you to run up a $2 million tab for police protection and other city services. We pay taxes and we’re pretty fed up about it. Oh, and one other thing.

We want you to take that FUGLY tarp off General McPherson’s statue, too. This isn’t Hogwarts, and you aren’t Harry Potter. Slyther back into your dens with the rats you are hosting.

Within the past week, a federal judge has TWICE heard petitions from the hobo camp, seeking to block the National Park Service from evicting these illegal campers from a national park. The judge ruled, citing appropriate SUPREME COURT rulings, that the NPS has every right to evict the protesters, provided proper written notice has been served. That notice was served, that effective this past Monday at noon, evictions would begin. An NPS spokesperson stated that evictions would be conducted “incrementally.”

The evictions have begun. I witnessed NPS employees picking up and tossing into a trash truck the garbage (plastic, tarps, milk crates and other junk) left behind by occupiers who had, presumably, voluntarily left the square. I also saw at least one occupier strike his tent. It was a small, but important step.